Changing Her Mind
by MedliSage
Summary: “What the heck are you doing?” “Helping you change your mind,” he whispered, and then he leaned over, tilted my chin up, and kissed me. Oneshot: a rewrite of ch. 18 of Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. Fax.


**Changing Her Mind**

_By MedliSage_

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Fang's hand gently smoothed my hair off my neck. My breath froze in my chest, and every sense seemed hyper-alert. His hand stroked my hair again, so softly, and then trailed across my neck and shoulder and down to my back, making me shiver.

I looked up. "What the heck are you _doing?"_

"Helping you change your mind," he whispered, and then he leaned over, tilted my chin up, and kissed me.

At that moment, I had no mind to change, or not change, or throw against the nearest wall. My mind had shorted as soon as Fang's lips touched mine. His mouth was warm and firm, his hand gentle on my neck.

I'd kissed him once before, when I thought he was dying on a beach. But that had lasted a second. This was... going on and on.

I realized I was getting dizzy, and then realized it was because I hadn't taken a breath yet. It seemed like an hour before we broke apart. We were both breathing raggedly, and I stared into his eyes as if I would find answers there.

Which of course I didn't. All I saw was the dancing flames of our small fire.

Fang cleared his throat, looking as surprised as I felt. "Forget the mission," he said, his voice barely audible. "Let's just all be safe somewhere together."

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When Fang said that, Maximum Ride, the girl destined to save the world, the girl who was stronger than several grown men, the girl with willpower that transcended logic, could not think, move, breathe, speak. The chaotic storm of emotions that usually filled her mind poofed into nonexistence after processing those words, every muscle in her body froze as if she was completely paralyzed, her lungs simply stopped functioning, and any sound that might have been rising in her throat just disappeared.

He continued, and the warmth that was in her cheeks turned into a fire, her stomach transformed into a rapidly churning whirlpool. What's worse is he wasn't even talking. His hand was still on her back, rubbing the sensitive spot between her wings, and leaning close to her again. She had to say something, she had to cut him off. If he got any closer or said anything else, she would probably melt into a puddle of goop right there.

"F... Fang," she began, as the air in her throat finally deciding it was time to move, but it stopped again when the hand that was rubbing her back sunk to the dip in her waist, pulling her close to him, so close that their heads rested on each other's shoulders. Max wanted so hard to bring up her arms, currently limp at her sides, and just push him away, asking him who he was and what he had done with the real Fang – or at least that's what she told herself she wanted to do. She wouldn't admit it to the Voice inside her head or even her own self, she refused to even acknowledge the possibly to herself, but the truth was that she wasn't mad at him right now – part of her wanted this to last, to last a long time. The other part of her knew that they couldn't do that, they had left the Flock alone, they needed to get back...

That part of her, however, had left her completely by the time his other hand had made its way to her upper back, now holding her in a full embrace. "Max... please." Even in the total silence, with his words so close she felt his breath tickle her ear, she could hardly hear him – perhaps due to how quiet he spoke, perhaps due to the fact that much her senses were shutting down, all her concentration going towards trying to process this, trying to get her brain to work, to do anything, to make her move at all – maybe it had started a bit, but it shut down and snapped her other senses back to life when he continued his words. "It will be like Colorado, again. But forever."

His upper hand reached up and stroked her hair again, with the same gentleness and tenderness it had the last time he did so, back at Anne's house, before he'd kissed her on the forehead. When he did that, when he acted like this – the paranoid, untrusting Maximum Ride was having a very hard time seeing how what he was saying wouldn't come true. It worked its way slowly back down to her upper back, pulling her closer, if it were possible.

Max could feel the all-familiar adrenaline finally start to kick in from her nervousness. Her brain started to function again, her muscles moving – she was finally able to take a deep breath, and think to herself, trying to talk herself into some sense. _Get a grip, this is Fang, he's just overtired or something, or this is a dream, or something, that could never work out, we'd be hunted down – _her steady pace of thoughts froze when he spoke again, speaking her name in a slightly questioning tone, as if wondering if she were listening. Not only that but her heart skipped a beat when he did, and more heat rushed to her face. It only intensified when she suddenly realized how stupid she must look, like a dumb teenage girl lovestruck, like that stupid Red Haired Wonder – _oh my god, get a grip, get a _freaking_ grip, you're Max, Max the invincible, Max who's always strong – _

That was her last thought, before she burst into tears.

If this had been anybody else in the Flock, she could have held it in. But right now, just with Fang, holding her tightly against him, she couldn't help it. The warm water began streaming down her face as suddenly and quickly as it had formed, and Fang shifted the position of his arms to wrap fully around her waist.

"It's okay," he murmured. "It's okay..."

This was humiliating. Fang had seen her cry before, the whole Flock had seen her cry before, but the fact that she couldn't even try to resist it was humiliating, the fact that she was crying harder than she had in months was humiliating, the fact that she was crying while Fang was holding her tightly in his arms was humiliating...

Somehow, though Max had thought him speaking or hugging her more or continuing _any_ part of this act would cause her to just cry harder, her breaths steadily slowed from sobs, to shudders, until after what felt like ages, her breathing was normal again.

Once she had finally regained control of her speech, she said, "I'm sorry," her voice cracking. Fang loosened his hold on her a bit, leaning back enough so he met her eyes – though she averted his, looking down. She swallowed, and quickly continued, not wanting Fang to think she started crying because of his actions. "It's not you. It's just... everything. The School, Itex, saving the world. The Flock." She almost added, _and you, because I have no freaking clue what to do about this,_ but she didn't.

Fang was silent for a moment – as usual. "That's why... we need to stop. Stop playing this game of theirs. We need to find a place where we're all safe."

Even if it was just a game, just a stupid test, Max didn't want to just give up on saving the world. The Flock would survive a catastrophe, but what about everyone else? Then again, it wasn't unlike the whitecoats – even Jeb, it looked like – to lie to them, so maybe that was all a huge lie, too? Just another huge, twisted, sick test.

Her thoughts froze when Fang spoke again. "Max –"

But she cut him off. She couldn't let this go on any longer. She forced her brain to work, air to move in and out of lungs, sound to leave her mouth. "Fang, what are you _doing?_ This is, this is..." Her eyes glanced to either side, seeing again both his arms around her. "This isn't going to make me change my mind. I'm not –" She stopped herself before she finished_ like your stupid Red Haired Wonder,_ and continued in a different direction. "I'm not like that. We can't just – stop trying to save the world."

"You don't even know that's true," he replied without hesitation, dodging her first question. "You know they're probably lying to us. Again. They're just testing us, it's a game to them. We have to remove ourselves from the equation."

She was silent; he had a point.

That was it, Fang decided. This wasn't getting him anywhere. He might as well come out and say it. Nothing left to lose now, right? It was all or nothing; this would either grant him eternal happiness or completely destroy his relationship with Max – if it wasn't already from this stunt he was pulling. Especially after seeing that idiot Sam kiss her like that and barely being able to take that, he couldn't bare it if someone else said it first –

"Look, Max," he began, his tone hurried as he was worried he might lose his confidence if he waited any longer. He shut his eyes and took a deep, silent breath – Max looked up at him, her eyes meeting his dark ones the second they opened.

"I love you," he said, both his eyes and voice showing emotion for once – he sounded... sincere, honest. Max had never heard him speak in anything but his flat, emotionless Fang-tone. Not only from that, but the words, too, of course, she tried not to show how shocked, nervous, and... some other emotion she couldn't identify, she was – which wasn't hard, because her body shut down again, all muscles ceasing, her senses tuning out everything and anything that wasn't Fang – his voice, his touch, she focused all her senses onto him. After a pause of dead silence, he went on, his voice quieter than ever. "I... want us all to be safe. But most of all, I want you to be safe. I don't want you... being hurt again." He was gradually becoming more audible, his eyes never leaving hers. "I want us all to be together, forever." Max could swear she saw a slight hue of pink in his face; if this whole situation wasn't already totally not-Fang like, that definitely made it so. "But most of all, I want to be with you forever."

Silence.

If Fang's heart had beat any faster, it would have probably exploded. He continued to look Max straight in the eye, despite an overwhelming urge to jump up and fly off into some place where he could be by himself, away from her, so he wouldn't have to go through the pain of her pushing him away, or saying she didn't feel the same way, or having to live with this ruined relationship at all –

And then, he felt her hands on his shoulders, and he had no time to react before she kissed him. At first, he froze – definitely not what he was expecting. Nervousness and elation exploded inside of him; then he realized he hadn't reacted at all. Thoughts went through his head at a race car's pace: he could break away and tell her she didn't have to force herself to try and return his feelings, which might be why she's doing this, or he could go along with this... but then what if she's testing him? Oh crap, her paranoia was rubbing off on him... he didn't have time to think, these milliseconds he had spent were costing him, what if she broke away? He had to just do this, he had to let her know it wasn't just a stunt to change her mind...

He pulled her closer to him, and her arms moved past his shoulders and around his neck. He was nervous, hoping more than anything he wouldn't mess this up. If things could just go well from here, than maybe it could be like this forever...

Max had no clue what she was doing. She had no idea what made her do it, she just – did it. One of her famous snap decisions. The only person who had ever kissed her was Sam; and that was short, plus he had been the only one doing anything really. She angled her head a bit, encouraged by Fang tightening his embrace.

They stayed like that a long time, that much they knew – but whether it was minutes, hours, days, years? They had no idea.

Finally, slowly, the unseen force of oxygen deprivation pulled them away from each other, their breathing fragmented and audible. Steadily the silence enveloped them once again.

Max took a deep breath. Even though he had already admitted it, she was nearly trembling, her heart pounding rapidly again. "Fang, I love you too."

He smiled – it wasn't just his usual flash of smile, either. This was lasting. The longest and most sincere Max had ever seen him smile.

The boy tightened his embrace to the point where their heads were on their shoulders again, unable to see each other.

"Let's look for a place tomorrow, then get back to the Flock," she said softly.

He gave his consent in the form of silence, and pulled back again to see her face.

She was so pretty.

Max saw that his face returned to being expressionless; but being Max, she noticed even the slightest change in his movements, so she noted that his eyes, usually dark and still, like him, were awash with emotion – they seemed to glow, to shine, and she smiled.

"Get some rest," he said quietly. "I'll take first watch."

"Thanks," she replied. The two shifted their position so their backs leaned against the cave wall.

At the same time, they moved their hands together, their fingers interlacing. Max titled her head to the side, on Fang's shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He leaned his head down down and kissed her on the forehead, and listened as her breathing slowed to a steady pace of slumber.

He was happy things had worked out this way.

_Fin_

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A/N: Eh. Was re-reading the MR books. I wanted to write a different version of that scene since I'm in love with the whole Fax thing. I can't write worth jack in a first-person perspective though, so, there you go. I obviously take no ownership in writing the first segment of this. I honestly don't like it that much, it was mainly written for personal satisfaction I guess; but anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

_- Medli_


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